The source is an investor who's been trying to get his money out,
which tells you something to begin with.

Other reasons layoffs happened are:

DE Shaw's Composite International fund is down
2.6% so far this year

Its assets have dropped from $39 billion in
mid-2008 to $29 billion under management in mid-2009, and $21
billion currently. The firm had not yet made staffing cuts.

Their UK and Dubai units lost $14.23 million
last year

Gating. And they've been limiting investors'
access to their cash. One investor said: "My feeling is that
they haven't been rushing to return money to investors. We
haven't seen an investor-friendly process."